Naoto Yanagi/Relationships
This page contains the relationships of Naoto Yanagi. Family Mikoto Kujou During elementary school, Naoto made Mikoto into his life-long rival since she defeated him in every field. While Naoto "hated" the gloomy and plain girl, Mikoto was very dismissive of him and nonchalantly told him that his fortune came from his father and was not earned by himself. These are the words that changed Naoto's world, as after seeing her reasons for working so hard, he felt like he had been defeated by someone for the first time, and then promised himself that he would defeat Mikoto with his own power. Naoto seemed to develop a slight crush on Mikoto after this, as when she told Naoto that she would feel "lonely" without him when he announced that he would be choosing a different middle school from her, Naoto was left in shock and blushed.Last Game manga: Game.01, page 21 This attitude towards her continued into middle school; viewing her as his annoying rival while simultaneously caring about her deeply on the inside. However, a minor accident made Naoto furious with her, so he made a plan; to make her fall in love with him; break her heart by rejecting her, so he could finally win for once. To carry out his plan, Naoto started to spend a lot of time with her in high school, so they eventually became "friends" and were always together, which is why they had been mistaken as a couple a number of times. Even though Naoto always whitewashed their closeness with that that he didn't even "consider" her a girl, he always felt happy, embarrassed and nervous in her presence. After witnessing Mikoto's tearful face, and later her smiling face thanking him for the first time regarding an incident involving her mother, a stark contrast to her usual poker-face, Naoto finally realized his feelings for her and that Mikoto indeed was a "girl". And when he finished high school, Naoto was completely in love with Mikoto as she had shown him a much more different side of hers after all the time they had spent throughout high school. This made his original plan backfire. However, Naoto tried to deny his feelings towards her for a long time; he had several girlfriends so he could forget about Mikoto and love his girlfriends, but it was impossible because of his unwavering feelings for her. So he decided to become true to his feelings towards her after so long and became serious about pursuing a relationship with her. As they entered their second year at college, they had gotten very close and constantly met up at Naoto's request. After hearing from Mikoto how they had "always been together" for the past ten years when he thought that he was the only one doing the chasing,Last Game manga: Game.05, page 28 and how precious he had become for her as he is the reason for her positive changes, now viewing him as a role model; Naoto decided that no matter where she would go, he would follow.Last Game manga: Game.04, page 31 After he indirectly proposes to her and they join the Astronomy Club together, they strengthened their bond into something closer as they grew to learn and understand more about each other on a whole new level. According to his older sister, Mikoto is the only girl Naoto has been so uneasy around compared to the other girls he went out with, which means that his feelings for her are for the first time, genuine. He also starts losing interest in other girls and begin to focus on Mikoto, solely. He is absolutely head-over-heels for her, cares about her deeply and rushes to her side whenever she is in trouble, and although Naoto thinks Mikoto's denseness is a problem, she is also the only girl he wants to be with and is absolutely unwilling to give up on her even if he hurts others. Because of this, he can become very jealous and narrow-minded when other boys get too near her. Although they are frequently annoyed at each other at times due to Naoto's constant complaints and Mikoto's unawareness of her surroundings, they consider each other best friends, and due to the large amount of time they have been together, they can't think a life without the other one. This is something Mikoto has openly admitted thrice. Naoto has been changed and influenced deeply by Mikoto in a lot of ways by the words she told him in elementary school. Naoto began working harder and even took on a part-time job; and became a less self-centered, judging, and arrogant person. However, he also had been feeling guilty about living a wealthy lifestyle given by his father, in comparison to Mikoto who always stood on her own feet. But Mikoto says otherwise, as she tells him that it's a symbol of his parent's love for him, and is highly supportive of Naoto's decisions, no matter what it is. In connection to this, she gave him the final push of determination to continue with his family business because of her constant support and understanding. Because of her influence on him, Naoto says that the person he had become is because Mikoto was there for him.Last Game manga: Game.52, page 26 Even after Mikoto falls in love with him as well, Naoto is clueless since he is traumatized from always being rejected by Mikoto in the past. Both of them are considered to be equally naïve in terms of romance, which is why their relationship progresses very slowly. But eventually, Mikoto confesses to Naoto that she really loves him. This event is one of the best moments of Naoto's life according to himself, and they finally became a couple. The two of them got married after seven years of dating alternatively engagement, and Naoto is happy and content to finally have married his first and only love, as well as his best friend and rival, and on this day he made it completely clear that Mikoto is the only one he wants to spend the rest of his life with. They then begin their new life with each other, and Naoto is beyond overjoyed to live together with Mikoto as his wife. Years later, they are expecting their first child, to which Naoto cried upon hearing. Naoto's words on this are "compared to a dream, reality is quite wonderful!" Mr. Yanagi As a child, Naoto admired his father a lot and aspired to be like him once he grew up, though these thoughts wavered as time went on. Although he would always brag about his father being the president of a large hotel company, he later felt like he didn't have anything to do with his dad, which was influenced by Mikoto's words to him. So he stopped imitating him, and grew rebellious towards his father as a young teenager, much to his embarrassment now. Even though Mr. Yanagi goes to other countries for work, Naoto states that he isn't excited nor happy to see him and will try to reject his affection when he does come back,Last Game manga: Game.47, page 24 though it is stated that Naoto is actually happy but just isn't very honest with his feelings. He is also suspicious regarding if he thinks that Mikoto doesn't suit him and even more so when he asked Mikoto out for a meal. Since his father teases him and his relationship with Mikoto a lot in a humorous way, Naoto states that he doesn't like that side of his dad. Slowly, Naoto comes to the conclusion that he wants to follow in father's footsteps, and although Mr. Yanagi is normally easy-going, he stated that he would be stricter than ever if Naoto accepted the deal. In the future, Mr. Yanagi's guidance made Naoto a good successor to the Yanagi resort company, in which it is seen that Naoto clearly respects his father. Michiyo Yanagi Although Naoto's mother, Michiyo, is very supportive of him, she also teases him a lot regarding his relationship with Mikoto. She often questioned Naoto if Mikoto already had "rejected" him, but after noticing the true nature of their relationship, she began telling her in-laws (Naoto's grandparents) that Naoto and Mikoto were a couple when they even hadn't started dating, to which Naoto became irritated as she had taken it too far. He is also embarrassed by his mother's behavior at times; as in when showed his embarrassing childhood pictures to other people, and when she overexaggerated his minor achievements, such as framing a chopstick from when he took out his mother for dinner with his own pay for the first time. This is why Naoto calls her "stupid mom" and says that he can't take her seriously. But he is also sometimes a bit intimated at her "scary" personality,Last Game manga: Game.43, page 8 and feels like he doesn't stand a change against his mother. In spite of all that, Naoto does respect and love his mother. Ryouko Yanagi Ryouko and Naoto have a very typical sibling relationship. When Naoto was younger, Ryouko was the one who constantly picked on him, though she watched over him when she began noticing his behavior change due to his relationship with Mikoto. Naoto thinks his sister's personality and behavior is displeasing and "childish", but due to her scary personality at times and her status as the older sister, Naoto often has to do what she says.Last Game manga: Game.34, page 25 Because of this, he thinks that Ryouko is quite "scary" and feels like she can't win against her. Since they moved into a house together to which Ryouko occasionally visits as a hotel, Naoto is always the one who has to listens to her rants about her boyfriend as such, in which he thinks that girls like her are really complicated. Although Ryouko constantly teases her younger brother and makes fun of him, which annoys and embarrasses Naoto, she really does care for him. Naoto denies the fact that he and Ryouko has a really good relationship,Last Game manga: Game.36, pages 2-3 but in reality, they are very close and know much about each other (mostly from Ryouko's side). Naoto agrees with his sister's words that she partly shaped him into the man he is today. Miwa Kujou Miwa and Naoto have had a good relationship ever since they met. Miwa is very fond of Naoto and becomes really excited whenever he visits her and Mikoto. Since Naoto had spent so much time in the Kujou household, he developed a close bond with Miwa and they eventually exchanged phone numbers. Naoto sometimes called Miwa regarding his relationship with Mikoto, and they also began texting each other regularly; it is stated that Miwa filled in things about Mikoto to him. Naoto also genuinely cares for Miwa, he would sometimes bring her bakeries and food that she had wanted to eat.Last Game manga: Game.03, page 7 Miwa and Naoto trust each other, as they once discussed about Mikoto, in which Miwa ensured that Naoto's feelings towards Mikoto were absolutely not unnecessary, since his involvement with Mikoto had made her grow into a much more social and open person, which Miwa is deeply grateful for. Miwa is also somewhat playful towards Naoto, as she has joked about wanting to date him if she was 30 years younger, and she has even suggested Naoto to date her.Last Game manga: Game.08.5 page 16''Last Game manga:'' Game.34 page 13 Obviously, Miwa isn't serious and can only see Naoto as her daughter's husband, and Naoto is also grateful towards Miwa for all the things she has done for him. In the near future, they became mother- and son-in-law. Friends Kei Souma Naoto and Souma's relationship did not start off as a positive one. When Souma heard about Naoto's closeness with Mikoto, he planned to take her away from him so he could have something Naoto didn't have. So when Souma joined the Astronomy Club, Naoto obviously became jealous and displeased whenever Souma got too close to her, and even warned Mikoto about him. And after realizing the truth behind his actions, Naoto is visibly annoyed at Souma's reasons for being jealous of him, and the two began considering each other rivals (mostly in Souma's part), in which Souma likes to make fun of Naoto and tease him. And after the incident with Mikoto where he tried to take advantage of her, Naoto grew very suspicious and cautious of Souma whenever he bothered Mikoto.Last Game manga: Game.13, page 10 But despite Souma's constant hostility towards Naoto, he has always seemed to treat Souma calmly and as a friend with some occasional teasing. Even though Souma has expressed his hate towards Naoto several times, Naoto has stated that he doesn't really hate Souma, and feels somewhat at ease with him since he is honest with him.Last Game manga: Game.16, pages 24-25 But later on, they develop somewhat of a deeper rivalry when Souma admitted to Naoto that he had confessed to Mikoto. Souma says he feels inferior to Naoto and thinks he has no chance with Mikoto, but Naoto himself feels vexed and thinks that he "loses" against Souma due to both Souma and Mikoto's independence, their closeness such as calling each other by their first names and how Mikoto constantly asks Souma for advice (though he was drunk when he said this). So Naoto then made it clear that he didn't intend to lose to him,Last Game manga: Game.32, pages 6-10 and they continue with their healthier rivalry over Mikoto as they actually admire each other now to a certain degree, and Souma himself has even said that he can't bring himself to hate Naoto. After this incident, their relationship continued "normally", with Naoto becoming very irritated at Souma whenever he interfered with his and Mikoto's moments or mocked him, and they also "fought" over Mikoto. Whenever Mikoto pays too much attention to Souma, Naoto always shows his extreme displeasure at this to which he will try to separate them and confront Souma, but Naoto really does care about him and maybe does see him as a little brother figure. Even though Souma became very supportive of Naoto's relationship with Mikoto when they began dating and eventually married, his amusement of making fun of Naoto didn't cease. Momoka Tachibana The first time Naoto "met" Momoka was at a party when she bumped into him. She spilled a drink on him but Naoto insisted that it was his fault with his gentleman side.Last Game manga: Game.14, pages 14-15 This made Momoka fall in love with Naoto, but he didn't think much about this and almost forgot about this incident. But when they met again through Mikoto and Momoka joined the Astronomy Club, they became friends. He considers her to be somewhat cute, though Naoto is troubled by her feelings for him as he likes Mikoto. However, he treats her normally and as a friend, especially since Mikoto seemed to be fond of Momoka. He doesn't, however, really like when she is close to him whenever Mikoto is nearby, and will try to brush off her advances in a friendly way. Momoka is also displeased about the fact that Naoto; a "handsome, rich" man, is in love with Mikoto; "a gloomy, ordinary" girl, but Naoto says that these things don't matter and proceeded to reject her and apologizes. When Momoka stopped coming to the club for a while, Naoto thought that it was his fault, indicating that he does care about her well-being, and he was seen to feel guilty after he rejected Momoka. Since this wasn't this case, Naoto later tells Momoka that his feelings for Mikoto are unwavering, but Momoka is hesitant to give up. They had an awkward relationship for a while, but Naoto still treats Momoka as a friend, and thinks the fact that she had worked so hard to become cute, is really impressive; just like Mikoto said.Last Game manga: Game.38, pages 24-25 Naoto and Mikoto answered Momoka's question with almost the same answer. This, in turn, made Momoka more accepting of their relationship, her being the one who made Mikoto aware of her feelings for Naoto and lent her a helping hand, such as choosing the clothing with her date with him; this surprising Naoto himself. Shiori Fujimoto At first, it seemed that Fujimoto liked Naoto, in which he "turned her down" by saying that he wasn't interested in having a girlfriend. However, it turned out that Fujimoto already had a boyfriend, which made Naoto really embarrassed.Last Game manga: Game.03, page 30 But after both Mikoto and Naoto joined the Astronomy Club, Naoto later came to consider Fujimoto a good friend. She is someone he can be himself around and freely talk about his feelings towards Mikoto. Fujimoto is supportive of his relationship with Mikoto, but she just can't help making fun of Naoto and teases him a lot. Although Fujimoto thinks that Naoto can be really annoying sometimes in which Naoto sees Fujimoto as a strict, "scary" woman that he can't win against, they do care about each other. References Category:Relationships